Lee Mendelson Film Productions, United Feature Syndicate
On this day, A Charlie Brown Christmas special premiered on CBS in 1965. Despite a wide array of concerns – crude animations made in six months, characters voiced by children, a religious speech by a main character and a borderline melancholy soundtrack – it was an instant success and remains a classic staple today. I still love watching it every year.
In the film, I like that things are imperfect, that they don't always go Charlie Brown's way. And I like that he even gets a little down, because who doesn't get a little down, even for a moment, over the holidays? I actually don't mind it. At any other time of year, people try to turn that frown upside down, but around the holidays, for some reason, there's permission to be down. It's actually a relief, you can even roll around in it a bit before moving on. And there's no better pairing for such moods than the soundtrack created by Vince Guaraldi. Absolute magic. Longing and magic. It's like bracing the cold to walk the streets of a snowy New York before taking shelter in a cozy, near-empty bar that's been decorated for Christmas. Or maybe that's just me. Either way, thank you Mr. Charles M. Shultz and Vince Guaraldi for bringing us a little magic every year.